Politics

I have never been a big fan of politics, but it is impossible to avoid. In Japan, it’s easier because the lack of the vocabulary required makes it hard to know when it’s being discussed. But even then, politics becomes hard to avoid.

The biggest example of politics I have experienced during my stay was when prefectural elections were happening. There are specified boards with areas for politicians to pin their campaign ads. These quickly filled during election week. There were also election ‘vehicles.’ These cars, vans, and other modes of transportation made their way through the city, waving with their white gloves to passerby, announcing over loudspeakers mounted on the top various campaign slogans. This, I did not understand. I found it to be annoying. The Japanese I talked with always called it annoying and to be quiet. Why would you vote for someone you found annoying? I asked my host mother, but my response was laughter and, “I don’t know.”

I did learn from my host mother that she liked the American system of elections. She said that though Japanese get to vote for local offices, the heads are picked by those in office and the general public gets little say in who leads them. When she asked if it was true that everyone in America got to vote for the president, her response was a sigh and an いいな〜. And honestly, with the information that their constitution was heavily based off ours, I was surprised that Japan didn’t have this; I guess I was naïve. I would like to sometime view farther into their constitution.

It is also interesting to see politics from different countries on Japanese news. In America, besides some local news and the latest upheaval over the president or congress, it’s rare to see another country unless it’s dealing directly with ours. And then, it’s dealing with our presence in that country. In Japan, it’s not uncommon to see Obama on TV, interviews with those participating in ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ the riots in Greece, the slow fall of the Euro and others. I was really surprised when I learned that South Korea’s president had visited the U.S. in late October. Where did I hear it? Not the American news (online or visual media), but from Japanese TV when they showed the two leaders shaking hands. Then I had to look for it and find it. On CNN, it was just a few small articles on the matter. I wonder if it was broadcast at all on the American news channels.